oops...

Ah. OK. I didn't blog for a whole month. My bad

For, you know, the 2 people who might actually read this blog.

Anywho. So, I've started honours, I've sorted out all the issues I had with 5 different people telling me to do my seminar 5 different ways...which is good. And I seem to have impressed the honours coordinator with my ability to be organised and to actually know what I'd doing.

I think she must be easily impressed.

Seriously. I am about the least organised person I know. And it doesn't take a genius to know that you shouldn't read off notes when you give a seminar, you should just know what you are going to say about your slides.

The only reason I am staying on top of my work is because if I don't, I will not only be stressed about my ailing grandparents, I will also be stressed about uni. Surely this makes sense and shouldn't surprise anyone.

Which begs the question: What the hell kind of people are they accepting into the honours program, if they can't time manage and organise a seminar in 3 weeks???

Tales from the Tram

I love public transport. I'm not saying it's the most convenient way to get around Adelaide, or that it wouldn't be handy if I could drive, but honestly, nothing beats the people you see and the conversations you hear when travelling on public transport.

Take today, for example. You know it's going to be a great trip when a woman, who looks and sounds like someone from 'Ladette to Lady' sits down next to you and says 'Goodbye fake Chanel, hello fake LeSportsSac'. Add to this her daughter, who must've been all of 6 or 7, and their stereotypically gay companion, and you know some interesting conversations are going to ensue.

Like the one about the little girls obvious recent purchase: a couple of packets of nail stickers from somewhere like cheap as chips. Said little girl asked said stereotypical gay man which set he liked better, the pink or the yellow. Now, I'm not 100% he wasn't taking the piss, as you can with small children as their perception of sarcasm isn't all that great, but he proceeded to give his reasons for why he liked the yellow ones better. It had to do with the design of the pink ones, because, honestly, why would you put a little picture of a rose on the sticker then put a stinking great diamante over the top so you can't see it?

I suppose he had a point.

Still. Any grown adult talking to a 6 year old rationally about the design merits (or otherwise) of their ugly nail stickers sounds hilarious. Yet I suppose I sound just as hilarious when talking to my small cousins about their possessions...ah the price we pay for the approval of small children...

I'm hoping I can regularly blog about the interesting things I see and hear on the tram. However, this relies on a few different factors. 1) that interesting things keep happening on the tram...which is almost guaranteed but you never know, 2) that I remember them and 3) I actually get around to blogging about them.

Because lets face it, my life is fairly boring, and I'd rather talk about other people. Which some people may not believe, because a blog is a fairly self indulgent place where people often crap on about themselves. But there you have it.

cabin fever

Ya know what? I haven't been outside for about 2 days...since Sunday afternoon, actually, when I went to Spotlight. This is for 2 reasons, I suppose. Or maybe it's just one. I'm not sure. Basically it's so freaking cold and wet, why would anyone go outside who didn't need to?? I figure, that's 2 reasons, right? Too cold, plus I have no reason to.

Well. No pressing reason, anyway. There are several things I could be doing, like going to visit J out at Hampstead where she is recovering from being hit by a tram. Or visiting my very sick grandfather. Or buying stuff for my latest craft venture. But none of those things are pressing enough to get me to go out in the rain and the occasional hail.

I kinda wish I did have something to do, though. I'm getting awful bored. Plus the cabin fever.

Oh well. Next week I'm off to Darwin to escape the cold that is Adelaide. Yay!!

boast...

Yay! I have a pretty header. Now, my photoshop skills are EXTREMELY limited, so it's not the worlds greatest image, but I'm proud of myself!

And my exams are OVER. Hence why I have time to muck around with photoshop making headers for my blog....

Strange Sources

As someone who has studied science for a few years now, I'm always taught to use data etc from reliable sources only. Basically, if it's from Nature, it's probably a good bet. Or anything with a decent sort of impact factor.

Definitely don't try to cite anything from, say, wikipedia. Although most science students will confess to using that marvellous database of knowledge as a starter for most of their assignments. Most importantly, never believe anything you see on TV.

The problem is, I saw something, or rather heard something on TV last night that pretty much perfectly sums up my thoughts on science. And God. And the same rule applies with religion that applies to science - don't believe anything you see on TV.

Still. I couldn't shake the thought that this expression of science and God was about the best I had ever heard. So I thought, screw it, I'll go and find the exact quote. Which proved tricky. Thank the fates for Facebook and the devoted fans who create the 'addicted to...' applications. And for that 'Numb3rs' fan who had posted the following in the 'quotes' section.

"I mean what kind of mindless cretins would blind themselves to the gifts of science? How else would a Creator reveal Himself but through His creation? And to deny the mind of that creation is to deny the mind of GOD."

There you have it, folks. Profundity in a TV cop show, or as my dearest father calls them, a 'shoot 'em up bang bang thing'...Because there's truth in those words of the fictional Dr Larry Fleinhardt. Well, I like to think there is anyway. I never get how some christians just dismiss science. It scares me. I think it scares me because it is irrational. You cannot just dismiss evidence based science because it doesn't fit your theology. At least I think that is an irrational thing to do...

Anyway. Let's see. Exam tomorrow? Check. Procrastinating? Check. Nearly killed computer today? double check.

Great day...

study

yes that's right folks, it's that time again: swot vac! so technically I won't be blogging much between now and the 1st of july...God that seems like a long time to be studying. I think I might actually die.

Mind you, I might end up blogging just to break up the tedium.....ugh...

A few things I've learned in the last few days

As much as I told people I had a good weekend, really, I spent quite a bit of it feeling really rather blah. Which was rather unpleasant. But it showed me a few things:

* Watching Torchwood, oddly enough, is not a mood lifter. In fact it is pretty much the opposite. Especially because I accidentally know how some of it is going to end. At least I had the sense not to watch the last two episodes, and to switch to Daria instead.

*As mentioned previously, Daria is a much better alternative to Torchwood when feeling blue. I'm not sure why. Surely all the sarcasm and angst can't be conducive to a good mood? Oh, wait. This is me we're talking about. Moving on...

*When you are blue, it is really hard to eat just one chocolate frog...

*Other people's blogs are far more interesting than mine. This probably explains why, as far as I am aware, no one actually reads my blog...

*The one things that is better than Daria when you feel blue is watching QI on youtube. Ah the hilarity. Laughter, as they say, is indeed the best medicine.

Sometimes governments get it right...

I was hugely excited on Saturday to hear that after years in Baxter followed by community detention, my friend Giwa has been granted a visa to live in Australia, providing he passes a health check and a police check back in Nigeria.

Which is awesome. But I must ask, why does it take so long? Giwa is a teacher, and a christian. It confuses me as to why it takes so long to work out that someone like him is not in anyway a threat to this country. I get that we don't necessarily want people associated with terror cells or other such nastiness to live here permanently. But how hard is it, seriously, to run background checks. I don't buy it.

In other news, I'm trying a new made up recipe tonight, involving rum, bananas and other goodness. Hopefully it goes well and the kitchen doesn't go up in flambe...hmm...

git

Here's something that occasionally surprises me: the fact that I seem to be turning into some kind of old git. I get crotchety at the littlest things...although maybe they aren't so little. It bugs me that people I'm studying with aren't as passionate as me. Or maybe even passionate at all. I realise that it is quite unique to have formed a dream some 6 or 7 years ago and still be pursuing it with only minor alterations. But seriously. If you want to be a health profession, have a little passion. Have some fire. Don't be all 'well if I don't get in, I'll just do such and such'. Screw that. I have all sorts of (meaning, OK, maybe 1) contingency plans in place in case I don't get into physio. I'm prepared to somehow work my way overseas if needs be, where I can buy myself a place if I have to. For godsakes, don't whinge about why you have to learn something that seems irrelevant, and please, if someone points out it is actually relevant, have the respect to accept that and move on. Be educated about what it is you actually want to do.

To sum up, whatever you do, do NOT piss me off. I will totally diss you in my blog. Bitches. Grow up, get a life, realise that the world will not, contrary to popular opinion, hand you everything on a plate. You have to work, you have to learn some mind numblingly boring things, as well as some hard things, and you have to accept them and accept that some things don't change. Above all, do not argue with a Choleric-sanguine type personality when she knows she is right. Trust me. She won't argue unless she knows she is right. Which means you are wrong. Accept that and move on.

Bitches.

Mother's Day?

Ugh. I feel like a bad person, because sometimes, I get totally sick of my family. Not my own mother, at least most of the time, but my extended family. It feels like they organise my life, or at least my special occasions, and just generally make me not look forward to family celebrations. Which seems contradictory. Family celebrations should be good, right? Yet they are about my least favourite thing to do. I have my small cousins thrust in my face constantly as small people who are far better than I'll ever be (note: everything these supposed prodigies can do, I could totally do at their age. Except crossover skipping. But who cares about skipping, anyway. I could, like, count to 100 and beyond when I was 4. Beat that, bitches). Clearly, whatever I do will never be good enough, as either Ann or Barbara could do it better than me. I eat the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, do the wrong subjects. I hate it. I shouldn't care but I do. This is my family. Of all the people in the world, your family should be the supportive, nurturing ones, right? Ha. Clearly you have the wrong family.

The problem is, if I rebel against it all, it just makes the situation worse. And yet I don't want to just pander and smile and do what I'm told. What the hell kind of life is that? Bastard catch 22...I don't want them to hate me, yet to do what it would take to please them would be unbearable. Gah.

Screw this. I don't need it anymore. But as they say, you can't choose your family. Which, as I'm seeing more and more, is a tremendous pity. On days when you are supposed to celebrate family, I find myself hating mine. Does that seem right to you???